First Kiss
by 1221bookworm
Summary: From the Tumblr prompt of the same name. Strell and Alissa are mercilessly teased about just how their first kiss happened.


**_A/N: This is for the prompt: First Kiss. It immediately made me think of Strell and Alissa, and it seemed fun to have them explain their actions. I also thought the series needed an epilogue, so I rolled it all together._**

 ** _I don't own the Truth Series. If I did, it would be much more popular._**

 ** _Enjoy!_**

Strell stretched and looked over his handiwork. Or, rather, the large empty space in front of him where part of Ese'Nawoer's wall had once stood. Now, it was stacked on pallets, carefully weighed so a Master could easily carry it. It was nearly time for lunch, and Alissa had promised him candied apples.

Ese'Nawoer looked like a whole new city. It was only settled in the parts closest to the Hold as Keeper students were drawn to it, bringing their families. One by one, houses had filled up, and while the city could accommodate so many more, Strell was pleased with the progress. He had flat out refused the title of Warden when they had offered it to him, sending Useless, properly Master Talo-Toecan, into fits over why he had bothered to convince the Masters if Strell was going to refuse. Strell had eventually accepted the responsibilities, though the title of Warden would stay with Lodesh. It was the least Strell could do for the gift of staying with Alissa.

Standing next to him, Meson-Trook elbowed Strell's ribs, and jerked his head towards a group now visible without the wall. Strell followed his fifteen year old son's gaze to one of the girls in the group, whom he had admitted to Strell that he had a crush on. Strell nodded that Meson-Trook should join the group, and without hesitation, he was loping up the street to meet them. Strell smiled as he watched him go. He hadn't been much older than Meson-Trook when he had his first crush. He chuckled to himself as he collected his tools. Alissa would work herself into a tizzy. Alissa had grown up on a farm by herself and didn't know what it was like to be a teenager in love. Their own love had been forged through shared trials, and he hoped none of his children would experience that sort of pain.

Strell settled himself in a patch of grass as Alissa finally emerged from their home. Easily the most colorful on the block, there were flowers everywhere the house wasn't. In window boxes and climbing up the walls, it was an explosion of color. Just like his Alissa.

The Masters had only granted them permission to live outside the Hold with Useless' guarantee that he would keep an eye on them, and to prevent any Master children from picking up any resonances too early. Strell and Alissa enjoyed the freedom it gave them.

Their daughters, Melody and Merry, were with Alissa, and Strell easily spotted the covered plate of candied apples Melody carried. Strell waved at them.

A shadow fell over them, and Strell glanced up to see Useless circling. That raku must have created a ward to discover whenever Alissa made candied apples, for he never failed to be among the first to taste a new batch.

"I made this batch all by myself, Papa." Melody extended the plate to him. At thirteen, she was just beginning to blossom, and was the most obviously related to Strell. She had inherited Strell's dark skin and hair. And his Septhema tracings. Thankfully, she would never know, Alissa had gently burned Melody's tracings as a baby. Her eyes were the gray of Alissa's father.

Today, she was quite pleased with her accomplishment, handing out candied apples to each of them, including "Uncle Useless" as he joined their group.

"I have it all worked out," Melody settled back to watch everyone's reaction to her handiwork. "Once Merry is old enough in three years – "

"Two and a half" the nearly eleven year old Merry interrupted.

Melody continued right over her. "There will be three of us to make a three day batch. That means we can stagger ourselves and have a brand new batch every single day."

Strell and Useless grinned at the prospect, even as Alissa attempted to talk the over eager Melody from her plan.

Meson-Trook flopped himself down beside Strell and popped a candied apple into his mouth whole.

"Where have you been?" Merry pounced on her older brother, both of them with their hair turned golden by the sun. Nearly the same color as their eyes. Both children knew they had Master level abilities, and both knew that Masters and Rakus were one and the same. So far, neither could shift, and didn't quite realize it was a birthright. Strell was not looking forward to that day, which was fast approaching as Meson-Trook neared his sixteenth birthday.

"I was cleaning up." Meson-Trook was a horrible liar. He was saved from further interrogation as Silla and Connen-Nuete joined the group. They had walked down from the Hold as Silla could no longer shift. She was six months pregnant with their first child, and had followed Alissa's lead in staying in her human form for the whole term. The Masters were miffed over their loss of control for their traditional ways. Silla had only laughed at their discomfort. Strell was prepping a house for them so their child, obviously a Master, would be protected from all the wards within the Hold. And, the Conclave hoped, perhaps fall in love with one of his and Alissa's own Master children, thus saving the Hold from extinction. Strell and Connen-Nuete had secretly discussed the possibility, and both agreed they would not force their children into any form of arranged marriage.

As everyone was fussing over the new comers, Melody sidled closer to Meson-Trook. "You snuck off to flirt, didn't you?"

"I didn't sneak. And I wasn't flirting."

"Was too."

"Was not"

"Are you going to kiss her?" Merry leaned across Strell to torment her brother.

"Who said anything about kissing?" Meson-Trook's raised voice brought a halt to any other conversations.

Silla smoothly stepped in to save him. "It's almost the anniversary of our first kiss." She smiled sweetly up at Connen-Nuete. "It was very romantic."

"Tell us about it." Melody and Merry eagerly asked for more. Strell sighed. He was quite sure the next few years would be full of romantic adventures for his clan. He hoped there would be no heartbreaks.

Connon-Nuete's ears reddened as Silla told them how Connen-Nuete had taken her out on a flying lesson to the mountains, where he had set up a candle light dinner and they had watched the sunset.

"We've gone back every year," she finished. "Not this year though. It will be the first time we've missed."

"It's for a good cause," Alisa said, reaching over to smooth Meson-Trook's hair into place. "Just remember that when they're getting into trouble."

"Trouble? Your children don't get into trouble, Alissa." Silla smiled fondly at her "nieces" and "nephew."

Useless harrumphed.

"What about your first kiss, Mama?" Merry turned to face Alissa.

"Papa was my first kiss," Alissa replied. "It was out here in Ese'Nawoer. On the green, under the Mirth trees."

"Do you celebrate it every year?" Melody asked.

"Yeah, you've never told us about it." Merry added. Meson-Trook, who was feigning a lack of interest, nodded his agreement.

"She hasn't?" A sly smile spread across Useless' face. "There's a fairly good reason for that, I'm sure."

"Were you caught?" Meson-Trook glanced between his parents to see who would answer.

Strell squirmed. "Sort-of." Alissa tried to distract them by cleaning up their lunch. It didn't work.

"Was it romantic?" Melody was the storyteller, and that was her favorite question.

"We had been separated for a while, and she threw herself at me, so yeah, you could say it was romantic."

Useless and Connen-Nuete exchanged knowing glances. "It wasn't as romantic as all that," Useless intoned. Connen-Nuete nodded his agreement. "I think the story would be more interesting if you asked your father what he said to her first."

Strell glared. How dare they try to embarrass him. Connen-Nuete had it coming. Next time Strell was asked to perform, he was going to do the one about the raku learning to sail. Someday, he would come up with something equally embarrassing for Useless.

"We said how much we missed each other." Strell hoped they would let it go at a half truth. They wouldn't. Even Alissa was giving him the evil eye for not owning up to his actions.

"I said 'shu-up,'" Strell muttered to the ground.

"Louder, please." Useless was enjoying this way too much.

"I said, 'Oh, do shut up.'" Strell still remembered it as if it were yesterday.

Both of his daughters shrieked with predictable outrage.

"Papa how could you!"

"You couldn't have used something from one of your stories?" His daughters seemed insulted that he could tell a better story then he could live apparently.

"She was blabbering." Strell offered by way of explanation. That only earned his stern looks. "If it makes you feel any better, we thought we would never see each other again."

"That makes it worse." Even Meson-Trook added to the group indignation over Strell's actions.

"A little help please?" Strell wasn't going to let Alissa get out of this. It was her stupid bird's fault anyway.

"Oh, no, you made this bed, you will just have to lie in it." Useless interrupted any response Alissa may have had.

"Then I have just one question for you" Useless inclined his head to accept he would answer. "How do you know what I said? You weren't there?"

Useless steepled his fingers. "I have eyes and ears everywhere."

Strell grunted. "I would have kissed your mother many a time before that day. Maybe you should ask Uncle Useless why I couldn't."

The attention of the disturbed youths turned to Useless.

"I am not ashamed of my actions. I attempted to prevent your parents' marriage from its earliest stage. I forbid your father from _thinking_ about Alissa. An order he was expressly disobeying by kissing her."

"You can't control someone else's thoughts." Strell grinned inwardly as they now berated Useless for his actions.

"He had help." Alissa was not getting off this easy. "Your mama used to have a wicked bird." Alissa gasped, but Strell ignored her. "She attacked me the very night I saved your mama's life, and if I ever got within arm's length of her again, she would try to scare me away."

Strell dodged the napkin Alissa had thrown at his head. "I can think of any number of occasions that I would have preferred to be our first kiss," he added tenderly. Alissa blushed. "They wouldn't have been as memorable, though. And that," he turned his attention back to his unruly offspring, "is nine-tenths of a story. If I had told you I kissed her at some random dinner, would you think of it as great entertainment?"

Alissa spluttered. "I do not want to be the subject of entertainment, thank you very much."

Strell smiled warmly at her. "Every kiss is like a first kiss to me."

There was a collective "awe" from the gathered family.

"Life isn't always perfect," Strell addressed their children again. "But memories are what makes it special."

"That was sweet." Alissa whispered to Strell as she scooped up their lunch.

"I meant every word of it." Strell pulled her close, and kissed her passionately.

Nearby, their children grinned.


End file.
